Hello! Does anyone have any updated information about Sur University College? I did a search and didn't see anything super informative recently. Also, is this the same as Sur College of Applied Sciences? Does anyone have any recommendations of other universities in Oman that they know have a positive reputation? Thanks!

Sur College of Applied Sciences has the very highest turnover of teachers in the college system in Oman and there are very real reasons for this high turnover. It is so badly ran by the management that most teachers there had some sort of occupational depression. No matter how badly you needed things to do the job given you, you simply found another way to get through another day in class without those very basic things you thought were needed.
Moon

Sur University College is owned by the same branch of the Bahwan family that owns Hawthorn Muscat. Hawthorn is the name that is used when recruiting for Sur College of Applied Sciences. The name of the man who will sign your employment contract at any of these places is well known on these forums, and he doesn't have the best reputation.

Actually, VS, I differ with you. The Colleges of Technology, which have been operating in English longer than the Colleges of Applied Sciences, are superior in their organization. The most important factor, however, is who is the Head of the Department?

The Colleges of Applied Sciences were once Teacher Colleges, but most - except Rustaq - were closed as teacher colleges because Oman was able to replace all the foreigner teachers at the primary and secondary school levels - a very admirable and wonderful accomplishment.

THEN those colleges were converted into Colleges of Applied Sciences. The conversion was bizarre.... mainly because English was taught as a 'foreign language' not as an intensive language program. Additionally, Egyptians had run the colleges with no Western input, so much of the curriculum was - God knows what, I don't.

English exams became centralized - issued from Muscat. One listening exam was so bizarre (even I couldn't do it) - it had to be excluded from the overall exam.

However, Ministry of Education exams are produced by each college individually, by the teachers themselves. In the beginning of each semester, teachers sign up for which of the four parts of the exam they will prepare (reading, writing, listening, speaking).

I don't know if the Colleges of Applied Sciences have improved in the past seven years. There is always hope, but for me, the level of corruption in Oman has inched up and then leap-frogged after Cyclone Gunu. Maybe others at a College of Applied Sciences could provide an update.

Private colleges in Oman are the worst. I interviewed at Majan, and it seemed the college wanted a wife on her husband's visa to avoid paying anything!

I have heard and seen how Sohar University is seriously expanding.... but I don't know anything about its educational programs.

SQU lost my respect when I learned that some - not ALL - students who plagiarize are not always punished and may even still pass the course - this is in regular courses, not the English Foundation program.

What I mean by the "same" is that they seem to take turns having "issues." It usually depends on management, but they change darn near as often as teachers. So a good position one year is a bad one the next... and vice versa. Vetting of new hires - management or faculty - is spotty at best. The low pay means they get the teachers who can't get hired at the better places - for whatever reason. Thus there is an unpredictable number of problem employees (management and faculty). They hire too many people who can't cope with even what most experienced Gulf teachers consider the norm.

Then there is the fact that for every complainer here on the boards... there are a half dozen or more working at said institution and 'getting along just fine, thank you.' It's a crap-shoot and much depends on any new hires expectations, tolerance for inefficiency, and personality.

The biggest problem is that the recruiters in Oman hire way too many that are unable to cope - even with the best of these small colleges.

Joined: 11 Mar 2012Posts: 19Location: Somewhere on the globe, in front of a computer screen

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:08 pm Post subject:

veiledsentiments wrote:

The biggest problem is that the recruiters in Oman hire way too many that are unable to cope - even with the best of these small colleges.

VS

I agree with VS on this sentiment. All the private colleges I worked at not just in Oman, but across the gulf share this characteristic. A failure to vet applicants, often led to outrageous working conditions later on in the school year (drunks, incompitents, sloths, and the other usual suspects to deal with). The Gulf Arabs have many of their own faults when it comes it academics and professionalism, don't get me wrong. But often, westerners are just as much at fault for the poor working conditions many of us have found ourselves in....